Combined garment hanger



y 1969 c. E; GINGHER 3,455,491

COMBINED GARMENT HANGER Filed July 26, 1966 INVENTOR CARL E. GINGHER k/ATTORNEY nited States Patent 3,455,491 COMBINED GARMENT HANGER Carl E.Gingher, 304-328 Depot St., Scranton, Pa. 18509 Filed July 26, 1966,Ser. No. 567,934 Int. Cl. A47j 51/14; Ed 13/02; A47h 15/00 US. Cl.223--91 11 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE The crossbar of a garmenthanger is provided with a slidably mounted spring clamp to form agarment suspension device. The crossbar has an inverted U-shaped crosssection with the marginal edges being upturned to define parallel tracksto slidably receive portions of the spring clamp. A base member which isgenerally V-shaped has slide members on its upper ends which arereceived in the tracks of the crossbar. A spring clamp is mounted withinthe V-shaped base member to extend outwardly thereof through a slot inthe apex thereof.

The present invention relates to a garment hanger of the type having ashoulder bar with a crossbar extending between the ends of the shoulderbar and a spring clamp slidably mounted on the crossbar, moreparticularly, to the structure of the crossbar to define a track for thespring clamp and improvements in the spring clamp.

Many forms of garment or clothes hangers have been devised upon which anumber of different garments may be hung. Such hangers are commonlycalled combined or multiple garment hangers. Such a hanger usuallycomprises a curved shoulder bar upon which a coat or jacket may be hungand a crossbar extending between the ends of the shoulder bar upon whichtrousers may be hung.

Using such a hanger crossbar as a pants supporting bar has not beensatisfactory since it is very easy for the pants or trousers to slideoff the crossbar if they are not clamped in position. Accordinglyefforts have been made to provide the upper surface of the crossbar witha friction or antislip surface so as to retain trousers in position uponthe crossbar. Such antislip surfaces are generally satisfactory as longas they last, but usually the edges of such friction strips tend tobecome loosened and are then detached from the crossbar by repeatedhanging and removing of the trousers from the crossbar.

In addition, various forms of spring clamps have been devised formounting on the various components of such a clothes hanger. One form ofspring clamp is slidably positioned upon the crossbar and can beadjusted to any desired position so as to accommodate garments ofvarious sizes. When two such spaced clamps are used trousers or skirtsor other garments may be suspended therefrom.

In order to lock such spring clamps in position once they were adjusted,it was usually necessary to provide some sort of locking device on thespring clamp. These devices, however, while effective in locking thespring clamp in position, were generally cumbersome and complex instructure and were not convenient to manipulate. If such clamp lockswere omitted, then the clamps were easily moved from position merely bythe suspending of a garment therefrom.

It is therefore the principal object of the present inven- 3,455,491Patented July 15, 1969 tion to provide a novel and improved clotheshanger upon which a number of different garments may be hung.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a garmenthanger having a simple but effective crossbar structure upon whichtrousers or other garments may be placed and held in position.

It is an additional object of the present invention to provide a clotheshanger having a crossbar upon which is slidably mounted an improvedspring clamp which positively holds a garment placed therein.

One embodiment of the present invention essentially comprises a clothesor garment hanger including a shoulder bar having downwardly bendingends with the shoulder bar being curved for supporting a garmentthereon. A crossbar extends between the ends of the shoulder bar and hasan inverted U-shaped cross section. At the lateral edges of the topsurface of the crossbar there are provided a pair of longitudinallyextending indentations which define a groove on the top surface of thecrossbar. Two strips of antislip or friction material are positioned onthe top surface of the crossbar with the edges of the strips beingreceived within the indentations so that the outer surface of thefriction material and the sides of the crossbar are flush. These stripsof friction material are spaced from each other at the central portionof the crossbar so that when trousers are suspended upon a crossbar theside seam of the trousers will be accommodated between the strips offriction material. Thus, the portions of the trousers on both sides ofthe seam contact the friction material on the crossbar and eifectivelyprevent the trousers sliding off.

The lower edges of the crossbar are folded inwardly and upwardly so asto define a track. The V-shaped base of a spring clamp is slidablymounted upon this track. The ends of the base are provided with slidemembers which rest upon the track with the upper edges of the slidemembers engaging the inner faces of the indentations on the crossbar topsurface. With this construction pivoting movement of the base will causea locking of the slide members within the crossbar and, hence, thespring clamps will not slide along the crossbar when garments aresuspended therebetween.

A U-bracket is removably retained within the V-shaped base and a springclamp is pivotally mounted on the lower end of the U-bracket.

This spring clamp will not move along the crossbar when trousers orother garments are suspended from the spring clamps and, thus, noadditional locking devices are required. In order to move the clampassembly a force must be applied against an end of the V-shaped base.Thus, spring clamps embodying the present construction remain in theiradjusted position once they are moved to this position and will notbecome displaced from this position unless a force is exerted on theends of the base.

Other objects and advantages of the present invention will be apparentfrom the accompanying description when taken in conjunction with thefollowing drawings, where- 1n;

FIGURE 1 is a side elevational view of the clothes hanger of the presentinvention having an antislip surface on the crossbar and a spring clampslidably mounted on the crossbar;

FIGURE 2 is a sectional view taken along the line 2--2 of FIGURE 1 butin enlarged scale to show the configuration of the crossbar and the baseof the spring clamp slidably positioned therein;

FIGURE 3 is an end elevational view of the spring clamp of the presentinvention;

FIGURE 4 is a side elevational view of the spring clamp of FIGURE 3;

FIGURE 5 is a side elevational view of the U-bracket and the springclamp pivotally mounted thereon with the front leaf of the spring clampbeing removed; and

FIGURE 6 is a perspective view of the locking device used to lock andunlock the spring clamp within the V- shaped base.

Proceeding next to the drawings wherein like reference symbols indicatethe same parts throughout the various views, a specific embodiment andmodifications of the present invention will be described in detail.

As may be seen in FIGURE 1 the combined clothes hanger of the presentinvention is indicated generally at 10 and comprises a shoulder bar 11curved substantially as illustrated in the drawing and having an uppersurface which forms the main support for garments hung there from. Ahanger hook 12 is upstanding from the central portion of the shoulderbar 11 and is adapted to support the hanger from a supporting bar or thelike.

The shoulder bar 11 has downwardly depending ends 13 and 14 andextending between these shoulder bar ends is a crossbar 15 which has aninverted U-shaped cross section. Shoulder bar 11 also has an invertedU-shaped cross section but there are differences between these sectionsas will be subsequently described. This U-shaped cross section conservesmaterial and provides a light weight sturdy reinforced garment hangerstructure.

The hanger hook 12 may be spot welded to the under surface of shoulderbar 11 and crossbar 15 similarly may be spot welded to the ends of theshoulder bar.

Proceeding next to FIGURE 2 it can be seen that crossbar 15 has anupwardly curved top surface 16. At the lateral edges of top surface 16there are provided a pair of longitudinally extending indentations 17and 18. The indentations 17 and 18 extend along the entire length of thecrossbar and together define a longitudinally extending groove 19 in thetop surface of the crossbar.

The crossbar 15 is further provided with side walls 20 and 21 whichdepend from the edges of top surface 16 and are substantially straight.The lower ends of side walls 20 and 21 are bent inwardly and upwardly asshown at 22 and 23 to define a track upon which the base of a springclamp is slidably mounted in a manner to be presently described. v

In order to provide a non-slip surface for the crossbar strips 24 and 25of an antislip or friction material are mounted on the crossbar topsurface 16 with the edges of these strips being positioned in theindentations 17 and 18. The strips 24 and 25 may be of a resilientmaterial such as foam rubber, natural or synthetic rubbers or suitableplastics. As may be seen in FIGURE 1 the antifriction material does notextend across the entire top surface of crossbar 15 but the centralportion of the crossbar remains uncovered as illustrated at 26 toaccommodate the seam of trousers which may be placed over the crossbar.Further, this exposed portion of the crossbar top surface may be usedfor imprinting the name of the hanger or its manufacturer thereon.

By positioning the friction material 2.4 and 25 between the indentations17 and 18 as described above it will be apparent that the upper surfaceof the antifriction material and the outer faces of side walls 20 and 21form a flush continuous surface. By protecting the lateral edges of thefriction material in this manner the edges of the friction material willnot become loosened from their bonded position through repeated placingand removing of garments from this crossbar.

The antislip strips are bonded to the top surface of the crossbar by asuitable adhesive or bonding material depending both upon the materialof the friction strips and the crossbar.

The garment hanger of the present invention also includes a spring clampindicated generally at 27 in FIG- URE l which is slidably mounted oncrossbar 15. The spring clamp 27 comprises a base 28, a U-shaped bracket29 which is locked in the base, and a spring clamp 30 which is pivotallymounted on the lower end of the bracket. Each of these components willbe described in detail.

The base 28 is formed from sheet metal or the like and is bent to form aV having an apex 31 and free ends 32 and 33. The ends 32 and 33 are bentto form slide members 34 and 35 with slide member 34 having parallelupper and lower edges 36 and 37 respectively and slide member 35 havingparallel upper and lower edges 38 and 39 respectively.

As can be seen in FIGURE 2 upper edges 36 and 38 bear against the innerfaces of indentations 17 and 18 and lower edges 37 and 39 ride upon thetrack formed by the bent ends 22 and 23 of the crossbar.

The faces of base 28 are provided with longitudinally extending inwardlypressed ribs 40 and 41 which are at diiferent distances from apex 31 asshown in FIGURE 2. One of the faces is further provided with an inwardlybent tab 42 as shown in FIGURE 2.

The locking tab 42 is shown in FIGURE 2 in its locked position with thefree end of the tab being supported on the rib 41. The tab is bent intothis locking position by the insertion of a suitable blade through thelocking tab slot 43 formed by the punching of the tab.

'Positioned on a downwardly directed face of the rib 40 is a slot 44which is used in unlocking of the tab 42 in a manner to be presentlydescribed.

On the apex of the base 28 there is provided a slot 45 in which ispositioned the U-shaped bracket 29. The bracket 29 is formed of wire ora rod-like material and comprises a closed end 46 and free ends 47 and48 which are bent inwardly as may be seen in FIGURE 5. In the assembledposition of this spring clamp the closed end 46 is positioned over thelocking tab 42 as shown in FIG. URE 2. This prevents withdrawal of thebracket 29 even though a considerable force may be exerted on thisbracket.

Pivotally mounted on the ends 47 and 48 of the wire bracket is thespring clamp 30 formed of two halves 49 and 50. These halves are similarand each comprises a handle 51 and gripping portion 52 formed by bendingthe sides of the clamp half inwardly to form the inwardly directedflanges 53 and 54 which may be seen in FIG- URE 5. Holes are formed inthese flanges to receive the ends 47 and 48 of the bracket 29.

The edges of the handle 51 are curved downwardly as indicated at 55 anda slight concave depression is made at 56 in the handle to facilitategripping thereof with the fingers when opening the clamp.

The gripping portion 52 has its outer edges 57 curved outwardly. Theoutwardly curved edges cooperating grip portion 52 provide a funnelconfiguration which greatly facilitates the insertion of garmentsbetween the gripping portions 52 of the clamp. It is further pointed outthat the edge 57 of gripping portion 52 is curved so that garments maybe inserted between the gripping portions from any angle.

Three inwardly pressed parallel ribs 58 are provided in each of thegripping portions to considerably increase the gripping action of thisclamp.

The clamp is held in its gripping or closed position as shown in FIGURE2 by a spring 59 positioned over the bracket ends 47 and 48. The spring59 has ends 60 and 61 which bear against the handles 51 of the clamphalves.

It may occur that the spring clamp assembly is obtained separately fromthe garment hanger such as illustrated in FIGURE 1. However, it is asimple matter to mount this spring clamp assembly onto the crossbar ofthe garment hanger as also illustrated in FIGURE 1.

In order to mount the spring clamp assembly onto the crossbar of thehanger the U-bracket 29 is detached from the base 28 and the ends of thebase 28 are squeezed together and inserted upwardly between the inwardlybent edges 22 and 23 of the crossbar. The closed end 46 of bracket 29 isthen inserted upwardly through slot 45. As the bracket is moved upwardlyit contacts ribs 40 and 41 and urges these ribs outwardly so that theslide members 34 and 35 of the base become positioned within thecrossbar as illustrated in FIGURE 2. The upper movement of the U bracketis limited by the closed end of the bracket contacting the inner face ofthe top surface of the crossbar. The locking tab 42 is then bentinwardly down to its locking position as shown in FIGURE 2. This isaccomplished by using a locking tool such as indicated generally at 62and illustrated in FIGURE 6. The locking tool 62 has a blade 63 whichextends at substantially a right angle from its handle 64. The blade 63is inserted into the locking tab slot 43 and then pivoted to urge thelocking tab downwardly. The downward movement of the locking tab islimited by the rib 41.

The position of slot 44 on the downwardly directed face of rib 40prevents the use of a screw driver or other straight blade member inunlocking the tab 42. However. this unlocking can be readilyaccomplished by the bent locking tool 64 by inserting the blade 63 intothe slot 44 and pivoting the locking tool 62 so that blade 63 urges thelocking tab 42 upwardly. When the locking tab has been bent tosubstantially a vertical position the bracket 29 is unlocked and canthen be readily withdrawn from base 28.

It will be apparent that the crossbar configuration and spring clampassembly structure as described above have numerous advantages. Oneparticular advantage of the inwardly and upwardly bent edges of thecrossbar is that should the fingers of the user extend upwardly into thecrossbar they will not be cut by the ends of the crossbar when thecrossbar is formed from metal. It is well known that in forming suchmembers from metal occasionally the edges are sharp and may cause injuryto probing fingers.

Not only is the spring clamp of the present invention simple inconstruction but it can be readily operated by anyone and providesstrong and effective gripping action for garments inserted between thegripping portion of the clamps. Further, the spring clamps may beobtained independently of the clothes hanger and subsequently quicklymounted into position on the crossbar of a hanger. The locking tabeffectively holds the spring clamp in position upon the clothes hangerand prevents the removal of the clothes hanger except by those personswho are provided with a locking tool such as disclosed herein.

It has been found that the spring clamp disclosed herein together withits various structural features as described above provides an effectivegarment gripping device when slidably mounted on the crossbar of aclothes hanger.

What is claimed is:

1. A garment hanger comprising a shoulder bar having depending ends forsupporting a garment, a hanger hook attached to said shoulder bar forsupporting the hanger, a crossbar having an inverted U-shaped crosssection including a top surface and extending between the ends of saidshoulder bar, there being a pair of longitudinally extendingindentations at the lateral edges of the top surface of said crossbar,the lower marginal edges of said crossbar being bent inwardly andupwardly to define a track, a base within said crossbar and having apair of slide members with upper and lower parallel edges, the loweredges of said slide members being slidably carried by said crossbartrack and the upper edges of said slide members slidably engaging theinner face of said crossbar top surface, and means attached the saidbase and extending outwardly from between said lower edges of saidcrossbar for supporting a garment.

2. A garment hanger comprising a shoulder bar having depending ends forsupporting a garment, a hanger hook attached to said shoulder bar forsupporting the hanger, a crossbar having an inverted U-shaped crosssection including a top surface and extending between the ends of saidshoulder bar, there being a pair of longitudinally extendingindentations at the lateral edges of the top surface of said crossbar,the lower marginal edges of said crossbar being bent inwardly andupwardly to define a track, a generally V-shaped base having slidemembers on the upper ends thereof with said slide members havingparallel upper and lower edges, the lower edges of said slide membersbeing slidably carried by said crossbar track and the upper edges ofsaid slide members slidably engaging the inner face of said crossbar topsurface, a bracket having one arm mounted on said V-shaped base and theother extending outwardly of said crossbar lower edges, and spring clampmeans mounted on said bracket other end for supporting a garment.

3. A garment suspension arrangement comprising an elongated supportingmember having an inverted U- shaped cross section including a topsurface, the lower edges of said supporting member being bent inwardlyand upwardly to define a track, a base within said supporting member andhaving a pair of spaced slide mem bers with parallel upper and loweredges, the lower edges of said slide members being slidably carried bysaid track and the upper edges of said slide members slidably engagingthe inner face of said supporting member top surface, and means attachedto said base and extending outwardly from between said lower edges ofsaid supporting member for supporting a garment.

4. A garment suspension arrangement as claimed in claim 3 with said basebeing generally V-shaped with said slide members being on the ends ofsaid V and the apex thereof extending outwardly from between said loweredges of said supporting member, and spring clamp means mounted on saidbase for supporting a garment.

5. A garment suspension arrangement as claimed in claim 3 with therebeing a pair of longitudinally extending indentations at the lateraledges of said top surface with said top surface being curved upwardlybetween said indentations, the upper edges of said slide membersslidably engaging said indentations.

6. A garment suspension device for slidable movement on a track, andcomprising a base including a pair of slide members with said slidemembers having parallel upper and lower edges for slidable engagementwith a track, a generally V-shaped element having its ends connected tosaid slide members, and means mounted within said V-shaped element andextending away from the ends of said element for supporting a garment.

7. A garment suspension device as claimed in claim 6 with there being aslot formed in the apex of said V- shaped element, a U-shaped brackethaving its closed end inserted through said slot within said V-shapedelement, means on said V-shaped element for retaining said U-shapedbracket in position, and spring clamp means mounted on the open end ofsaid U-shaped bracket.

8. A garment suspension device as claimed in claim 7 with said retainingmeans comprising a pair of inwardly pressed ribs in the sides of saidgenerally V-shaped element with said ribs contacting said U-shapedbracket to position the same.

9. A garment suspension device as claimed in claim 8 with said ribsbeing at different distances from the apex of said V-shaped element.

10. A garment suspension device as claimed in claim 7 and furthercomprising means on said V-shaped element for lockingly engaging theclosed end of said U- shaped bracket.

11. A garment suspension device as claimed in claim 10 with said lockingmeans comprising a tab bent underneath the closed end of said U-shapedbracket.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS Buffin 22388 Barnes 22388 Fischer22388 Martin 22391 Ambrosino 22388 Stoschy 22390 Gensmer et a1. 223-98FOREIGN PATENTS 1 1/ 1947 Switzerland.

5/ 1946 Great Britain. 4/ 195 1 Germany.

US. Cl. X.R.

